NIAGARA FALLS 



5732 



NICAEA 



and 111 ft. in those below them. 

 The river is interspersed with 

 islands, one, Grand Island, being 

 about 27 sq. m. in area. About 4 m. 

 lower down the river is precipi- 

 tated over a great limestone ledge. 



The cataract is divided into two 

 by Goat Island, the American Falls, 

 on the N. side, being 1,080 ft. wide 

 and 167 ft. high, and the Horse- 

 shoe or Canadian Falls, on the 

 south side, 3,100 ft. across and 

 158 ft. high. The depth of water at 

 the crest of the former is 10 ft., and 

 of the latter 20 ft. The volume of 

 water sweeping over both catar- 

 acts is computed at 100,000,000 

 cubic ft. per hour. Below the 

 descent the river plunges through 

 a deep and narrow chasm to 

 Lewiston, 7 m. distant. The walls of 

 this ravine lie from 200 to 400 yds. 

 apart, and rise sheer to a height 

 of from 80 to 100 yds. About 2 m. 

 below the Falls is the whirlpool. 



The river is crossed by three 

 bridges below the Falls, a suspen- 

 sion bridge for pedestrians and 

 carriages a little distance below 

 the cataract, and two railway 

 bridges about 2 m. farther down. 

 Since 1890 the water power has 

 been utilised for the generation of 

 electricity, the water being drawn 

 off through tunnels above the Falls 

 and returned in a similar manner 

 into the chasm below. The shores 

 along both sides of the Falls have 

 been made government reserva- 

 tions, the Queen Victoria Niagara 

 Falls Park (1888) covering 154 

 acres, and the New York State 

 Park (1885) 115 acres. See Blondin. 



Niagara Falls. City and port 

 of entry of Ontario, Canada. It 

 stands on the W. side of Niagara 

 river, here crossed by three bridges, 

 about 2 m. below the Falls, being 

 82 m. from Toronto. On the 

 opposite side of the river is the 

 U.S. city of Niagara Falls. It 

 is served by the C.P.R., G.T.R., 

 Michigan Central, New York Cen- 

 tral and other rlys., while an 

 electric rly. also connects it with 

 Toronto. It is thus an important 

 rly. centre, and its enormous water 

 power generates electric power, 

 which is employed for the factories 

 here and for those of Toronto and 

 other cities. A park, commemor- 

 ating Queen Victoria, occupies 

 a length of 2 m. along the river. 

 The original name of the city was 

 Clifton. It then became Drum- 

 mondville, but was known as 

 Niagara Falls when made a city in 

 1903. Pop. 11,000. 



Niagara Falls. City and port 

 of entry of New York, U.S.A., in 

 Niagara co. It stands on the 

 Niagara river, 23 m. by rly. N.N. W. 

 of Buffalo, and is served by the 

 New York Central and Hudson 



Niagara Falls. Flan showing the 



position of the Falls and the adjacent 



Canadian and American shores 



River and other rlys. It is the seat 

 of -Niagara University and of De 

 Veaux College. Electrical power is 

 supplied by the Falls for flour mills, 

 machine shops, foundries, planing 

 mills, paper mills, and electro- 

 chemical works. Niagara Falls re- 

 ceived a city charter in 1892. 

 Pop. 50,800. 



Niagara Series. In geology, a 

 subdivision of the Silurian sys- 

 tem of rocks. The rocks of the 

 system are found in the U.S.A. and 

 Canada, and contain red haematite 

 iron ore, which is the basis of many 

 of the great steel industries of N. 

 America. See Silurian. 



Niam-Niam (Great eaters). 

 Dinka name for a negroid people 

 on the watershed between the 

 tributaries of the Bahr el-Ghazal 

 and the Welle basin, in Central 

 Africa. They call themselves Zande. 

 Agile, round-headed, thick-lipped, 

 chocolate-hued, they exhibit ab- 

 original Nuba elements with Fula 

 admixture. They are warriors and 

 skilful iron-workers. See Negro. 



Nias. Dutch island of the 

 Malay Archipelago, off the W. 

 coast of Sumatra. Its soil is ex- 

 tremely fertile, its inhabitants 

 Malays akin to the Battas. Rice 

 is the main product. Area, 1,800 

 sq. m. Pop. 170,000. 



Nibelungenlied (Ger., song of 

 the Nibelungs). Medieval German 

 epic. The unknown Austrian 

 author composed the poem about 

 1200 or somewhat earlier. The 



stanza consists of three lines with 

 six accents and one with seven. 



The poem, in 38 adventures, con- 

 sists of two parts. The first part 

 relates the story of Siegfried, his 

 marriage to Kriemhild, her jealousy 

 of Brunhild, and the murder of 

 Siegfried by Hagen, the Nibelung ; 

 and the second part tells how 

 Kriemhild, who had married Etzel 

 or Attila, king of the Huns, 

 avenged herself on the Nibelungs, 

 and was herself slain. The name 

 Nibelungs, originally a perhaps 

 mythical people, whose hoard 

 Siegfried had won, is, in the Nibe- 

 lungenlied, transferred to the Bur- 

 gundian house ruling at Worms, 

 who acquire the hoard through the 

 murder of Siegfried. Their king, 

 Gunther, brother of Kriemhild 

 and husband of Brunhild, is the 

 historic Gundahari, who was slain 

 when the Burgundian kingdom of 

 Worms was destroyed in 437. 



The Icelandic Volsunga Saga 

 and other versions preserve more 

 primitive forms of the Siegfried 

 legend than the Nibelungenlied, 

 which eliminates many crude 

 and mythological elements, and 

 deepens the tragic motives. Its 

 courtly and chivalric setting only 

 slightly obscures the manners and 

 ideas of an earlier pagan age. Of 

 the many renderings of the Nibe- 

 lungenlied into modern German, 

 that of Simrock may be mentioned, 

 and of English translations those 

 by A. G. Foster-Barham, 1887, 

 A. Horton, 1898, and in prose by 

 M. Armour, 1897. See Brunhild ; 

 Kriemhild ; Siegfried. Prow. 

 Neebeloongenleed. 



Niblick. One of a golfer's iron 

 clubs. Shorter, heavier, and more 

 lofted than the mashie, it is the 

 chief club for use in sand bunkers, 

 and in awkward lies in grass, gorse, 

 or heather. Strongly wielded, a 

 niblick will propel the ball a con- 

 siderable distance with a lofty 

 flight. Firmly held, it will pitch a 

 neat little chip from the rough 

 near the green with sufficient back 

 spin to make the ball stop almost 

 immediately it drops on the green. 

 Sufficiently short to be swung in 

 diverse ways, it lends itself to a 

 great variety of shots. See Golf. 



Nicaea (mod. Iznik). Ancient 

 city of Bithynia, Asia Minor. The 

 name was given by Lysimachus in 

 honour of his wife to a city founded 

 by Antigonus. The kings of 

 Bithynia made it one of their two 

 residences. It is celebrated as the 

 scene of the general Church council 

 of 325. Nicaea long remained an 

 important city ; it was the capital 

 of the Seljuk sultan Soliman in 

 1078, and the seat of an Eastern 

 empire after the conquest of Con- 

 stantinople by the Latins in 1204. 



